the launch of the KwaZulu-Natal Public Service Training Academy, Durban
2 July 2007
Today marks an important milestone in the tenure of this government and
administration. This is the day on which this government commits itself in
front of all present in this hall, to improving service delivery in the
province through vigorous and sustained transformation of the mindset of the
public servants themselves.
I wish to remind this audience that the purpose of any transformation that
has to take place in the public service is to effect good governance. As we all
know, no amount of financial and or other resources can replace the human
element where delivery of services is concerned. Therefore, central to
transforming the Public Service and improving service delivery is the clear
need to have a competent personnel corps.
Competence in this context means that the public service should be staffed
by personnel who have the knowledge, skills, values and attitudes needed in a
developmental state that is working towards creating a better life for all. The
focus of concern in this instance is always the quality of service to the
public, measured by its accessibility and openness, its speed of delivery and
its fairness, to mention a few.
The aim of any and all governments therefore is almost always to achieve
greater efficiency through improved procedures such as could be measured in
terms of, inter-alia, time saved and quicker responses. These are indeed real
benefits, but attention to measurable gains in efficiency cannot afford to omit
one of the most critical variables which, to a great extent qualify service as
good or bad, and this is the attitude or behaviour or demeanour of the public
servant himself or herself.
Government at all levels now serves a public that is vastly more engaged in
public policy matters than it used to be, a public that is more demanding of
results than it used to, thanks to our Constitution. The increasing interest of
the citizens in getting what rightly belongs to them is mainly as a result of
higher levels of good governance and access to knowledge through mass media.
Increasingly, people are asking for services to be tailored to their individual
needs rather than being tied to the services that are available, and rightly
so.
Government is therefore under immense pressure to produce high quality,
which distils into, variously, more varied services and value for money. With
the right mindset, we can meet this demand. This takes me to the second
point.
The second point that I wish to reflect on is that public service is about
values; this point every government will always emphasise. Among these values
are the following:
* prompt responsiveness to societal needs as well as loyal service
* a close focus on results, efficiency and effectiveness at all levels
* ensuring equality of opportunity
* rewarding high performance
* ensuring the highest standards of probity, integrity and conduct
* a strong commitment to accountability
* continuous improvement in the delivery of services.
Observance of these values becomes the "Public Service Brand" of that
particular government.
In revisiting the way public service delivery happens in KwaZulu-Natal, we
need to ask constantly ourselves the following questions: What is the Public
Service Brand in this Province? To what extent do we observe the values just
mentioned? What is the general opinion of KwaZulu-Natal citizens about the
service that they receive from government?
In addressing these questions, it is crucial that we reflect on the history
of public service in this province. The history of the public service in the
Provincial Administration of KwaZulu-Natal is characterised by the amalgamation
of different administrations each with its own culture and operational
systems.
Following this amalgamation the question still exists as to whether or not
we have been able to develop a new organisational culture where each public
servant operates on a mindset and attitude that puts the citizen first.
The responses that we receive are more often than not unpalatable.
Translated, this means that our Brand is, to say the least, nebulous. We
have picked this up at izimbizo; we have seen this nebulousness at some service
delivery points during our unannounced visits. In fact, in 2004, having been in
provincial government for 10 years at the time, I stated in the State of the
Province Address that: "There is no place for a public servant that is
obsequious, absent and insolent. For us to achieve our governance and
development goals, we need a corps of dedicated and competent public servants
who deliver quality service expeditiously".
The statement I wish to make today is that, from this day on, the fuzzy
brand will be replaced, permanently, by a "We care, we serve, we belong"
brand.
The KwaZulu-Natal Public Service Training Academy is set to bring about this
turn around. The cadre of public servant that will emerge will be imbued with a
citizen-centred attitude, orientation and mindset and will be expected and
indeed able to tackle head-on the challenges engulfing this province, and will
do so without fear or favour. There is never going to be another time when
effective, citizen-centred service delivery will depend on the mood and whim of
the public servant.
Admittedly there are pockets of excellence out there. KwaZulu-Natal is no
longer looking out for pockets but for seas of excellence. The provincial
government has made this pledge and shall stick to it.
As a start we do recognise that the public service is constantly changing in
terms of its structure, systems, skills needs and shared values. In spite of
these changes, the public service has continued to use traditional methods of
training, development and change management, even while there is evidence that
some of these methods are not suited to the demands of a transforming public
service. It is clear therefore, and we acknowledge this that traditional
approaches to training and development are not suited to today's fast changing
environment as they are based on case histories and methods relevant to a
period characterised by slow and incremental change.
The Academy, as a response to this anomaly will place a strong emphasis on
skills planning by focusing on scientific methods of need identification and
articulation of individual and organisational development needs. Training will
be demand-led, with emphasis on whole person development and continuous
assessment of impact on individual and organisational performance. While
assistance has already been sought from all our partners, that is, Institutions
of Higher Learning, the Business Sector and the banking institutions, to
mention a few, so that we complete the picture of a well rounded public
servant, a unique feature of the Academy will be the extensive use of internal
capacity to deliver training.
Specifically, Members of the Executive Council, heads of departments as well
as senior managers who are assumed to be experts in their functional areas will
lead this campaign.
The prospectus for the Academy, which you will be receiving today, sets out
the package of programmes that will be run. For instance, in the prospectus,
you will note that a series of training modules as well as colloquia with the
various stakeholders has been allocated to the Members of the Executive Council
and I. Indeed I am expected to engage the senior managers in the province
immediately after this recess.
Also, in the next ten days, from the 9th of July, to be precise, the Academy
will be running a scheduled series of Service Excellence programmes involving
120 public servants.
The minimum number of trainees to go through the various learning
interventions for this financial year is set at 5 000.
In addition, the academy will focus on conducting organisational
development-oriented research and organisational development interventions that
will support service delivery improvement.
In a nutshell, we see the academy becoming the knowledge hub of the
provincial administration with one of its objectives being to transform the
administration into a learning organization where learning forms a critical
part of every interaction that the public servant engages in.
We have reached this milestone partly because of the support we received
from externally. I wish to acknowledge the support we have received from the
following partners:
Department of Public Service and Administration through the Integrated
Provincial Support Programme for the research and development of the conceptual
model, and United Nations Development Programme for facilitating international
benchmarking to Malaysian National Institute of Public Administration (INTAN)
in Malaysia and the Singapore Civil Service College.
I am also thrilled to tell you that in the last hour, I have come to know
that a benefactor, whom we shall not identify at this stage, has taken the
concept of skills development further and agreed to grant bursaries to 50 young
citizens. The training will be in the fields that I will need to identify.
In conclusion, I wish to refer my message to the "actors," these being the
public servants themselves. By launching the Academy, I am calling upon public
servants to rethink their roles, values and practices, to be more productive,
more responsive and accountable to government and citizens.
Members of the Executive Council as well as Senior Managers must therefore
be prepared to lead this service excellence trajectory by setting a standard of
excellence, managing this standard, and rewarding exceptional work. This starts
with developing an eye for service excellence as well as ability to affect a
good match between employee skills and the mission of the organisation. This
will not only improve the pride of the officials in what they do, it will
improve the public esteem for public service as a whole. We have to rebuild the
trust of the KwaZulu-Natal citizens that public servants are intent on and
excited about making a positive impact on service delivery. To achieve lasting
results in this instance is about doing something far more difficult than just
changing processes; and that is, changing attitudes and minds because these are
the biggest determinants of performance.
Governments will come and go but one thing remains unchanged, that is, the
task to serve the citizens of KwaZulu-Natal and this is the essence of public
service. Public servants must therefore see themselves as the glue that binds
together government and the citizens.
We are confident that success of the Academy is possible, because of the
five basic choices that we know we possess and which we hope will shape its
form and effectiveness, and these are:
* political commitment without which the whole mission will fail
* strategic vision of pragmatic evolution to guide the process and avoid
pitfalls, a goal oriented approach
* the goal of professional career-based public service to shape the human
resource management structures
* the strength of the human resource base
* the end-goal of good quality and good governance.
In the end, the best judges are the voice of the citizens and ultimately the
extent to which we are able to sustain the progression towards the achievement
of the Millennium Development Goals. Let us give value by recognising that the
citizen is the most important person in the province. Let us create a mental
and emotional climate of friendliness and goodwill. Let us serve our
communities with the skill, professionalism, compassion and humility that they
deserve.
We cannot give up now. We cannot allow our dreams of a "Better life for all"
die by failing to keep alive the passion for customer-sensitive service
delivery.
Let us all work together in weaving the colourful basket of sustained
excellence in the delivery of services to the people of KwaZulu-Natal.
Let us craft every pattern in the words, positive attitude and positive
mindset.
Masisukume Sakhe.
I thank you.
Issued by: Office of the Premier, KwaZulu-Natal Provincial Government
2 July 2007
Source: SAPA
